The Birth of a Bird, Part III (What's in a name?)

What’s in a name? More specifically, what on earth do you call an opera turkey? I took this question to church with me, the next morning (Sunday)

“I need your help!” I exclaim to the choir upon arriving to the choir room at Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Clearwater, Florida.(where I am currently a staff soloist) I have arrived there on time-ish for Sunday morning warm-up. “Hypothetically speaking, if you were a turkey (as in the main course of Thanksgiving dinner) that liked opera, what would your name be?”

I am greeted with a couple of puzzled looks. I bet they are thinking, "I guess that this guy hasn’t had his 2nd cup of coffee yet!"

I try again.

“I have decided to design a website about opera. The website’s mascot is going to be a bird. Not just any bird, mind you, but a good ole American turkey. Soooo…what should I name the turkey?“

Again, crickets…

“Ok, well if you think of anything during church this morning, let me know. I go pick out the bird this afternoon!”

It didn’t take long during the service for the responses to begin to trickle in…Turk the Baba (after Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's opera Rake’s Progress), Captain Giblet, Gobble Gobble, The Opera Turkey, Luciano Gibletini, Luciano Gobblerati, Turkey of the High C’s, Giacomo Turcini, The Opera Gobbler.

The list went on, but my eyes kept going back to Luciano. “Luciano Pavarotti… famous tenor; Luciano Pavaturkey….famous tenor turkey. It has a ring to it!” I think. “Luciano Pavaturkey sounds like the name of a mascot for a website called Operaturkey.com.”

“No…wait…I can’t name the site that! I don’t want to be confused with the Turkish National Opera.” I glance back at the list. And there it was: The Opera Gobbler!

I cannot dial my SP fast enough. “Hey, can you hop on Godaddy.com and check Operagobbler.com to see if it is available?”

“Yep, sure is!” she says!

“Great, I will secure it this afternoon, after I go pick up the bird!”

As soon as I am off of the phone, I Google “Luciano Pavaturkey,” and quickly realize I have stumbled into the perfect name! “This is so brilliant, I am either a genius or just one lucky dude!” Staring at me is the Spanish word for female turkey…PAVA …and PAVO is the male bird! (since we are going to name him after a famous tenor and make him a famous tenor turkey, I decide that we will switch one letter in his last name… and go with PAVOTURKEY…. We have a name…LUCIANO PAVOTURKEY! Now all we need is the bird…

The Birth of a Bird, Part II

I had found my bird!

There it was, in all of its yet-to-be-stuffed glory, the bird of my dreams! Questions began to race through my mind:

Do turkeys like opera? Can turkeys like opera? What will people think of an opera-loving Thanksgiving feast? If a turkey can be rejected as America's national bird, will a turkey be rejected as Opera's endearing symbol? Is an opera website worthy of having a turkey as a mascot? Is a turkey worthy of being a mascot for a website?

....and of course, the most important question of all...

What on earth do you call a turkey that likes opera?

"An Opera Turkey," I exclaim with piercing enthusiasm! Jenna giggles and shoots me an odd look. (This trip was to be about her finding a bear for her business) I quickly grab my phone and dial....

****RING****
****RING**** (oh come on, pick up, will ya!)
****RING**** "Hey!" says the voice on the other end of the line.

I reply with great conviction, "Hey, I have a brilliant idea! What would you make of an opera loving stuffed turkey?"

For a brief second, silence. Then from that silence, "Oooooookay, It could work, I guess. Why?"

"Well...." I go on to tell the person on the other line my idea of building a website with a bunch of opera plots which has a blog and a "yet-to-be-named," opera-loving turkey as its mascot. We could even put the bird in a tuxedo.

Over the next five minutes the two of us brainstorm on the phone, fleshing out the idea. Will the site be for kids, adults, or both? What about home school materials or materials for high school teachers to use with their music classes? Would there be other characters than the turkey? Could there be t-shirts, mugs, and a book? Do turkeys even like opera?

I ask my conversation partner if they are "in" to help me with the website, and offer to split the work 50-50. My conversation partner agrees. I now have a new "Silent Partner." (SP for short)

SP then asks one last question. "What will you name the bird?"

"Let me sleep on it!" I say. "I'll talk to ya later."
"Later!" With that, I am off the phone.

"I think my SP thinks I'm nuts. Hey Jenna, I'm thinking about an Opera Turkey, but I think I need to sleep on it."

"Good," says Jenna "I need to come back tomorrow because I want to use my video camera to document my new bear's birth."

....and with that, we leave Build-a-Bear workshop....

To Be Continued...

The Birth of a Bird, Part I

It was a dark and stormy night... (actually it wasn't)

Hi! I'm Bryce and I am a professional opera singer. A couple of years ago I was the opera writer for a website called suite101.com. During my brief time there I wrote a few articles about opera. More specifically, I was writing opera plot summaries/synopsis of several operas. I thought this was a really cool gig for my spare time, since the small commission that I made from the website helped pay for me to stream music on Napster for study. Eventually, the nice folk at suite101 wanted me to write reviews of opera albums and productions. I didn't feel comfortable "reviewing" potential colleagues and employers so I decided to stop writing for the website. Every month I still collect a small residual check from the articles that I wrote.

With the recent downturn in the economy and with the closing of several opera companies, I thought it might be good to spend some of my free time (between gigs) educating the general public about opera. Originally I thought it would be fun to set up a website of opera plots. I could then expand on it and talk about specific recordings and singers and maybe have a blog about opera plots. This seemed like a lot of work, but I was creating a resource site for people to learn about my art and I would maintain control over the site.

Fast-forward to about a two months ago...

I was having an evening out with my friend Jenna. We were having a discussion about her business and my career. We were talking about marketing ideas (the sort of thing that self-employed folk talk about since they have to do it all themselves) that she had for her new business and blog. She told me about a friend of hers who had a blog with a stuffed bear mascot. He included the bear in all his blog posts. The blog wasn't written from the "bear's perspective," but the bear was omni-present. After telling me this story, Jenna asked me to accompany her to Build-a-Bear Workshop to help her pick out a bear for her blog...(What else does an opera singer have to do on a Friday night without a gig? Sure, I can tag along to help her pick out a bear for her blog)...so off to the mall we went!

As we arrived at the International Plaza Build-a-Bear in Tampa, my wheels started to turn. There were bears of every color and shape as well as other animals. There was a rabbit, a frog, an elephant, a cat, and a gator. Ignoring the real reason we were there (to pick out a bear for Jenna) my mind began to wander. What does a bear, a rabbit, a frog, an elephant, a cat, or a gator have to do with opera?

An opera-gator? I personally have a slight distaste for gators since I did my undergraduate degree in music at the University of Georgia...and Dawgs hate Gators!

An opera-rabbit, perhaps? Hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way....no, no, no, no good at all!

An opera-pachyderm? It ain't over 'till the fat elephant sings! Nope...that wasn't going to work either!

Just as I thought this was a silly idea for my opera plots and would never work...

...there it was,staring me in my face, in all of its brown, red, yellow and orange splendor. It was as if the skies had opened and the light had been let in. "This is too easy," I thought. I had found my bird!

To be continued...